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Top Five Bloomberg BNA Energy and Climate Report Stories for the Week Ending Oct. 31

An interview with
Stanley Meiburg, who came out of retirement after a 36-year career with the
Environmental Protection Agency to become acting deputy administrator, was the
top Energy and Climate Report story for the week ending Oct. 31. The second,
third and fourth most read stories covered EPA's proposed carbon rules for
power plants, followed by a story on compliance by U.S. industry with upcoming
European Union sustainability reporting rules.

1. New EPA Acting
Deputy Administrator Meiburg on What Brought Him Back

In this interview, Bloomberg BNA reporter Anthony Adragna spoke with newly
announced EPA Acting Deputy Administrator Stanley Meiburg on his leadership
style and what drew him back to the agency. Below are the interview’s first
question and answer.

Bloomberg
BNA: How were you approached about coming
back to the agency, and what drew you back?

Meiburg: I had in fact retired, as I think people know—and was
quite happy doing that—but in late July I got a call from the administrator who
said, “Would you be interested in coming back?” I thought about it, and there
were really three things that decided the issue for me.

The first was my
admiration for the administrator. She's a tremendous leader and so effective
and very compelling as a leader of EPA. So that was the first thing.

Second thing was that
you work for an agency for 36 years, [and] it kind of gets in your blood. I
really believe with all my heart that EPA's organizational success is important
to both the nation and to the world. So the notion that I could contribute to
that and help build and strengthen EPA—pushing ahead to what will come
after—was very compelling. I felt like it was maybe a chance for me to give
something back for everything the agency gave to me.

And then the third
factor was I became convinced after talking to the administrator that I could
hopefully do some good. That the years of experience I've had at the
agency—adding both a headquarters and regional perspective on things—would be
valuable at this particular point in the agency's history. So those were really
the three things that decided the issue for me.

2. EPA Works to Respond More Quickly to Industry Critiques of Power Plant
Rule

The EPA is trying to
move quicker to counter what it considers to be erroneous industry claims about
the cost of its carbon dioxide regulations for power plants, said a senior
agency official, whose remarks are covered in this story.

Opposition to the
EPA's push to regulate greenhouse gases, particularly from power plants, is
driven more by economic concerns than genuine disputes over the science of
climate change, Joel Beauvais, associate administrator for the EPA's Office of
Policy, said at a forum sponsored by the New York University School of Law's
Institute for Policy Integrity.

Beauvais said the EPA
is trying to do more “rapid response” to counter industry studies that suggest
regulating carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants will be
prohibitively expensive and threaten the economy. Beauvais said the EPA expects
industry attacks on the rule will intensify as it nears finalization in June
2015.

As detailed in
this story, the EPA highlighted additional issues for comment in its
proposed carbon dioxide standards for existing power plants, while also
proposing similar emissions targets for four utilities on tribal lands.

The EPA announced a notice of data availability that seeks additional comments
on the proposal on issues such as allowing states to take credit for early actions
to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, expanded use of natural
gas-fired power plants and the possibility of setting a multiyear baseline for
state emissions rates.

The EPA also is proposing carbon dioxide emissions rates for power plants on
tribal lands as well as in Puerto Rico and Guam. The agency developed the
emissions rates using the same factors it used to determine emissions rate
targets for states.

4. Sustained Lobbying
Push on EPA Standards for Power Plants Continues, Records Show

At least 120 groups
varying from public health advocacy associations to large publicly traded
companies reported lobbying Congress during the third quarter of 2014 to
express their views on the EPA's proposed carbon pollution standards for power
plants, public records show, as detailed in this story.

The standards for new
and existing power plants have drawn significant congressional interest since
their introduction, and many industry groups have urged Congress to step in and
block their completion. Many of the groups lobbied on legislation that would
effectively do that, including the Electricity Security and Affordability Act
(H.R. 3826; S. 1905) and the Coal Country Protection Act (S. 2414).

Data have shown strong, consistent lobbying of Congress on the standards. At
least 110 groups have reported lobbying on the carbon pollution regulations for
the previous three quarters, as congressional debate on the standards has
intensified.

5. U.S. Companies
Advised to Get Ready for EU Sustainability Reporting Rules

Companies in the U.S.
should take steps now to make sure they are ready to comply with new European
Union requirements for sustainability reporting, according to analysts, whose
remarks are covered in this story.

The requirements,
adopted as an amendment to the EU's accounting directives in April, will apply
to about 6,000 large companies in the EU that meet certain criteria.

One of those criteria is being listed on an EU stock exchange. That means some
U.S. companies listed on EU stock exchanges might also need to report if they
meet the rest of the directive's criteria.

The requirements,
which mandate public reporting on environmental, social and other nonfinancial
issues in annual management reports, won't go into effect until 2017. But U.S.
companies that don't already report on sustainability should “be on the
cautious side and start now,” Chiara Ferracioli, policy coordinator for the
Global Reporting Initiative, said.

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